All About the Biblical Eve

One of the greatest mysteries from Old Testament lore is that no description was ever presented in regard to Eve dying. As the helpmeet and companion to Adam, that omission is peculiar. The deaths of Adam, Abel, Cain, et al, are accounted for throughout Genesis, but not Eve. She was, after all, supposedly taken from Adam’s side (not from a rib), to be his helpmeet and companion—not to be Adam’s subordinate. The telling clue is in the biblical interpretation of her name as meaning “mother of all living.” This is typically sidestepped by the clerical explanation that this means that Eve was, through her sons, the female ancestor of the entire human race. But to accept that flimsy explanation as clarification only intensifies the curious fact that nothing was ever presented about her dying.

The linguistic derivation of the name Eve is uncertain, but what is explicit is that the Hebrew version of beginning (Genesis) was inspired and revised from teachings of older cultures that the Hebrews had touched upon—such as Sumerian teachings with astronomical symbolism as presented in later Babylonian texts. In the teaching from those prehistory cultures the female counterpart was always regarded as equal in eminence to the generating aspect in Creation, for it is through that creative counterpart that energy-substance is brought into its material manifestation. Thus in the original works upon which the priests of Yahweh drew their inspiration, “the mother of all living” was in reference to Earth—i.e. Mother Nature—which bears forth the intentions of the Life Principle, which was personified as Adam in the priest texts. We should note that the name Eve also happens to be a part of the word Yahweh (Yahveh, Jahveh = heve). Thus it is that in Genesis, Adam (the Life Principle) is portrayed as naming all the animals and even naming Eve. But she was not initially regarded as Adam’s subordinate. She was, after all, originally one half of an apparent hermaphroditic being and so remained one with Adam.

The priests of Yahweh were a self-serving cluster of men, and reflecting their lust for authority they cast Eve as being unthinking and gullible. The weak storyline in which Eve was “tempted” by a serpent in the Garden of Eden is presented without any indication as to why the serpent would seek to converse with the woman. But the text never actually implies that any gullibility inclined Eve toward “sin.” That negative stain was injected somewhat later by priestly schemers to boost their position of dominance. All the accompanying story features, however, support the claim that Eve was sinless.

Eve, representing the bearing aspect that accompanies the Life Principle, did nothing on her own. Adam and Eve experienced everything together. They became conscious of their nakedness together; they fashioned a means of concealment together; they sought to hide from the deity together; they were expelled from the garden together; and together they faced the pain of experiencing matter-life. But nowhere in the story were either of them cursed outright. Together they represent the Life Principle and the Bearing Principle of life as one unified principle.

Adam in the Genesis myth personifies the generative Life Principle, and the name itself is commonly held to be from Hebrew and to mean “ruddy” or “earth.” Thus in Genesis 1:26, where it is said, “male and female created he them,” it is inference that generative activity (sex) is the process by which humankind is to recreate itself. And so Eve as “the mother of all living” personifies the life-bearing and life-sustaining force that is often referred to as Mother Nature—and this is why there is no account of Eve having died. She still lives.

But what about Adam? If he personifies the Life Principle itself, the very energy-force out of which all life is initiated and maintained, why is Adam portrayed as having died in the Genesis myth, but there is no similar end for Eve? And the demise of the featured character through which the Creation saga was initiated is quietly and strangely swept aside in one brief verse (Genesis 5:5), saying that Adam had lived nine hundred and thirty years. Surprisingly, “sin” is not said to have played a role in the ending of his material manifestation either. Why? Because biologically Adam symbolizes only the generic principle which is made active within living matter. This was obliquely implied earlier in the second chapter (version) of Genesis. In that version there is no mention of “Adam” by name until verse 19 where the man is abruptly and unceremoniously provided a name, and he then names “every living creature.” Only the Life Principle could name every living organism, not a mortal man. So Adam simply symbolizes the generic activity in the energy dimension of matter manifestation. The generic activity in matter manifestation, personified with Adam, can and does transmute, however, so to account for this transmutation capability of generative action in scriptural fable, Adam “dies.”

Back to Eve; remember that she was not named by “the man” until Genesis 3:20, and she is accounted for as being drawn from the side (not from a rib) of Man (the Life Principle), indicating an indwelling and corresponding power. She was not originally portrayed as subordinate to man. Eve represents that indwelling and corresponding power of the generic principle, which is the bearing principle that accompanies the generative principle and continues to be active in every dimension of Creation activity. And we see her and feel her presence in all the energy about us that we speak of as “Nature.”